<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>11/19 by hydroknife</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22371778">11/19</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/hydroknife/pseuds/hydroknife'>hydroknife</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Persona 5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Introspection, Other, Panic Attack, general persona 5 spoilers, mentions of interrogation room events, self harm as a form of grounding</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 13:14:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>584</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22371778</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/hydroknife/pseuds/hydroknife</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Akechi thinks about his plan, and the shackles of fate.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>11/19</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>He’d accept it with open arms if that’s what it came down to. A life cut down by a man shackled to his own fate - maybe he could be freed. Maybe, the barrel would be turned on him at the last moment.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe, Goro Akechi was looking for a quick out to the mess he made.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>And maybe he was being idiotic.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Akechi purses his lips, annoyance flooding his senses. The voice that echoed in his head kept a level tone, it’s usual bite dimmed down to mere embers. Loki wasn’t fond of coddling him, and Akechi was okay with that. He didn’t need to be coddled. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The closest he would allow is a shaggy haired barista lending his ear, his eyes - all to Akechi’s cause. Sometimes he thought of dropping everything, every mask he’d ever adorned that wasn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>truly</span>
  </em>
  <span> him; letting all the layers melt off to reveal his core.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He wondered what it would look like. The center of it all, the center of a detective prince, a phantom thief, a </span>
  <em>
    <span>liar </span>
  </em>
  <span>- surely what they would all call him when the jig was up. A few more days and there would be no small respite from the current that seemed to be drowning him more than carrying him along. It always felt as if water engulfed him from every direction, this time flooding his lungs to incite a deep pain in his chest.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He knew it wasn’t real, but he’d rather imagine his body sinking. Expiring at the bottom of some dark pit, rather than acknowledging the true source of the needles piercing his heart.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Goro Akechi really was an idiot. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>His eyes fixate on the ceiling above him, creating non-existent patterns in the dark as his mind continues to wander.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Was it hypocritical of him to want to escape fate this late in the game?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Probably. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Just a bit. The sheets rustle as he sits up.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Akechi’s hands slide down his face in exasperation and then push inwards, fingers digging into the skin beneath - it stings a bit, and he probably needs to cut his nails; he’ll forget by the time morning comes though--</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>His fingers dig in again, and he forces the breath out of his lungs simultaneously. Counting the beats out, and then in again as the grip on his face slackens and hands fall unceremoniously into his lap. Loki hums a disapproving note, and Akechi feels a dull and cold anger rise in his chest.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“And just </span>
  <em>
    <span>what</span>
  </em>
  <span> did you expect me to do, then?” He hisses out, voice teeming on the edge of hysteria.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Perhaps something that wouldn’t mark your face.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The anger flares, burning at the base of his throat. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t ridicule me,” he clears his throat.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ve covered worse, and you know that.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Loki goes silent, it’s an irrefutable fact, the evidence stowed away in his bathroom cabinet and the crumpled makeup receipts that seem to pile up faster and faster.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Akechi’s head falls back against his pillow, the rest of his body following and turning on it’s side. His knees come up towards his chest, eyes narrowing in the darkness as his sudden outburst recedes, replaced by emptiness and fatigue.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Everything goes silent again, neither of his Personas whispering or ridiculing - the silence is kind of like salvation to him, honestly. His eyelids slip closed after a bit, one last thought of a pistol’s weight in his hand darting across his consciousness as sleep takes him.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tomorrow, he would let fate run its course.</span>
</p>
<p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>my twitter is @gendices!</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>